STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JAY WEBBER
District 26 (Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Increases penalties for certain criminal offenses committed against elderly and persons with a disability.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning abandonment and neglect of certain persons and amending P.L.1989, c.23.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1989, c.23 (C.2C:24-8) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. An actor is guilty of a disorderly persons offense when the actor knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental, or moral welfare of a person 60 years of age or older or a disabled adult.
b. An actor is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree if the actor has a legal duty to care for, or has assumed continuing responsibility for the care of, a person 60 years of age or older or a disabled adult when the actor knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental, or moral welfare of the person.
c. [A person] An actor having a legal duty to care for or who has assumed continuing responsibility for the care of a person 60 years of age or older or a disabled adult, who abandons the elderly person or disabled adult or unreasonably neglects to do or fails to permit to be done any act necessary for the physical or mental health of the elderly person or disabled adult, is guilty of a crime of the third degree. For purposes of this section, "abandon" means the willful desertion or forsaking of an elderly person or disabled adult.
d. An actor having a legal duty to care for or who has assumed continuing responsibility for the care of a person 60 years of age or older or a disabled adult, who causes the elderly person or disabled adult harm that would make the elderly person or disabled adult abused or neglected as those terms are defined in section 2 of P.L.1993, c.249 (C.52:27D-407) is guilty of a crime of the second degree.
[b.] e. A person shall not be considered to commit an offense under this section for the sole reason that [he] the person provides or permits to be provided nonmedical remedial treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone in lieu of medical care, in accordance with the tenets and practices of the elderly person's or disabled adult's established religious tradition, to an elderly person or disabled adult to whom [he] the person has a legal duty to care for or has assumed responsibility for the care of.
[c.] f. Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude or limit the prosecution or conviction for any other offense defined in this code or in any other law of this State.
(cf: P.L.1999, c.8, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a gradation of criminal offenses, ranging from a disorderly persons offense to a crime of the second degree, for crimes committed against disabled adults and persons 60 years of age or older.
Currently, section 1 of P.L.1989, c.23 (C.2C:24-8) makes it a crime of the third degree for a person having a legal duty to care for a person 60 years of age or older or a disabled adult to unreasonably neglect to do, or fail to permit to be done, any act necessary for the physical or mental health of the disabled adult.
Under the bill, it would be a disorderly persons offense under section 1 of P.L.1989, c.23 (C.2C:24-8) to knowingly act in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a person 60 years of age or older or a disabled adult. The bill makes it a crime of the fourth degree if the actor has a legal duty to care for, or has assumed continuing responsibility for the care of, a person 60 years of age or older, or a disabled adult, and knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of that person.
The bill also provides that if an actor has a legal duty to care for, or responsibility for the care of, a person 60 years of age or older or a disabled adult, and causes such person harm that would make him abused or neglected, the actor would be guilty of a crime of the second degree.
A disorderly persons offense is punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to $1,000, or both. Crimes of the fourth degree are punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. A crime of the third degree is punishable by a term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000 or both. A crime of the second degree is punishable by a term of five to 10 years, a fine up to $150,000, or both.